"you fascinate me."
Apart from the good news about 1844, today has been a day devoted to wasted potential. Check this out:
I watched the Coens' The Ladykillers again, one of two long-ignored Coen films, each of which I've seen exactly once, in theaters and never again. It just doesn't work for me. I could go on about why, but let's call it yet another illustration of wasted potential; I'm not going to.
Then I went to a little seminar thing about the RACC Grant, billed as all the inside scoop I'd like to know about how to win some RACC money. Literally, it consisted of one of the RACC people coming out and reading to us from their info pamphlet and then clicking through the questions on the webpage for us. I'm sure they get countless stupid questions and ignored details, but this was essentially a 90 minute FAQ session. I can read. I left eager to apply (and disappointed that the money won't come until January 2009), and with virtually zero information I couldn't have and wouldn't have gleaned from the webpage in a week or so.
Then I decided to go use the free pass I have to a movie to go see Shyamalan's The Happening, knowing it wasn't going to be that great and knowing I was curious anyway and knowing I'd be happier if I didn't have to pay. But the fuckin thing was a "No Passes" film, which is the less euphemistic way of calling it a "Starred Attraction," and that meant I had to fork over ten bucks to be tense for two hours and annoyed and disappointed. I have officially come to the conclusion that M. Night isn't just bad, he outright sucks unless Bruce Willis is involved. Although there were a couple of cute scenes, mostly The Happening was offensive shit. Note to M. Night: I'm sorry man, but that "everything's so convenient" bullshit that worked in Signs? That only worked because you made it the point of the movie, this idea of God and Fate. And even then it left me feeling cheated. This time, it comes off like amateur screenwriting. There, I've said it. I'm sorry, but someone had to.
And then I came home and watched/am watching the second of the two Coen Brothers movies that I haven't seen since it was in theaters: Intolerable Cruelty. This movie is much more satisfying as a film, with some good performances (Geoffrey Rush as always, Billy Bob and George Clooney likewise) and a hell of a lot of good lines, but it doesn't feel... well, it's not quite satisfyingly Coenesque for me. I'm sure once I've finished the film (and if not then, then at least once I've read Todd Alcott's critique of it) I will be able to be more clear in defining where we went wrong.
Okay. Back to it.
I watched the Coens' The Ladykillers again, one of two long-ignored Coen films, each of which I've seen exactly once, in theaters and never again. It just doesn't work for me. I could go on about why, but let's call it yet another illustration of wasted potential; I'm not going to.
Then I went to a little seminar thing about the RACC Grant, billed as all the inside scoop I'd like to know about how to win some RACC money. Literally, it consisted of one of the RACC people coming out and reading to us from their info pamphlet and then clicking through the questions on the webpage for us. I'm sure they get countless stupid questions and ignored details, but this was essentially a 90 minute FAQ session. I can read. I left eager to apply (and disappointed that the money won't come until January 2009), and with virtually zero information I couldn't have and wouldn't have gleaned from the webpage in a week or so.
Then I decided to go use the free pass I have to a movie to go see Shyamalan's The Happening, knowing it wasn't going to be that great and knowing I was curious anyway and knowing I'd be happier if I didn't have to pay. But the fuckin thing was a "No Passes" film, which is the less euphemistic way of calling it a "Starred Attraction," and that meant I had to fork over ten bucks to be tense for two hours and annoyed and disappointed. I have officially come to the conclusion that M. Night isn't just bad, he outright sucks unless Bruce Willis is involved. Although there were a couple of cute scenes, mostly The Happening was offensive shit. Note to M. Night: I'm sorry man, but that "everything's so convenient" bullshit that worked in Signs? That only worked because you made it the point of the movie, this idea of God and Fate. And even then it left me feeling cheated. This time, it comes off like amateur screenwriting. There, I've said it. I'm sorry, but someone had to.
And then I came home and watched/am watching the second of the two Coen Brothers movies that I haven't seen since it was in theaters: Intolerable Cruelty. This movie is much more satisfying as a film, with some good performances (Geoffrey Rush as always, Billy Bob and George Clooney likewise) and a hell of a lot of good lines, but it doesn't feel... well, it's not quite satisfyingly Coenesque for me. I'm sure once I've finished the film (and if not then, then at least once I've read Todd Alcott's critique of it) I will be able to be more clear in defining where we went wrong.
Okay. Back to it.